We recently connected with Deondra Newson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Deondra, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I remember scrolling on TikTok and coming across a woman going live and people were commenting to her, gifting her, tapping her screen. I remembered thinking “wow look at that support!”. It wasn’t about the gifts (money), it was about the way she had people supporting her and coming back everyday to see her. Complete STRANGERS! Then I remember seeing some big content creators telling upcoming creators some wrong information and that truly fueled me to start helping other content creators on TikTok and let them know the truth and ways they can make money instead of just giving their money away. My goal completely changed for TikTok and I knew exactly why I was placed on there: to help & encourage people. When I go LIVE on TikTok, my community shows up for me everytime! I call my community the NEWSON CREW. My goals is to help upcoming content creators (especially moms) monetize and learn the ends and outs of TikTok.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Deondra Newson. My family and friends call me Missy. I’m a wife and a mom of 3. I saw how many people were paying off their cars or buying houses off TikTok and I thought I want to set my family up financially too! So I started making content and going live on TikTok (@deonshae25). But once I actually started connecting to people and helping people, I knew my calling on TikTok was for more than financial reasons. I started learning things on my own and I started helping other content creators figure out TikTok or I found myself answering questions in my inbox and on live. My community started telling me how much they appreciated me and complete strangers started telling me they love my vibe and spirit! Being a live host has given me a different feeling I’ve never had before. It makes me feel like I’ve actually found my calling and I’m actually helping people. Yes, it may be just a social media app to some but to me I’ve truly made family and new friends on there! People check up on me, I check up on people, and some of my followers actually have my personal number now. I love what I do! Being a Live Host/Live Coach has become such a rewarding feeling! Everyday I hit that Live button, my community shows me why I’m suppose to there! I honestly think my genuine kind spirit is what sets me aside from other content creators. I’m real & raw on my platform and I tell my followers and new followers anything they need to know or whatever questions they have I get them answered! I have followers that subscribe to me as well! They’re @handle on TikTok gets on my live backdrop and they get into my personal Discord where they can ask questions, send their content in the chat, and where I can drop anything I think may help them or help them make money on TikTok. I love what I do, truly. If anybody is looking for help on TikTok or just a community of genuine people I can guarantee they won’t be disappointed in the Newson Crew (@deonshae25). I’m here to help and to grow my platform even bigger! I just started a blog for mom content creators as well that’s under construction and I can’t wait to have my page up and running for that either!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
When I first got on TikTok, I didn’t know what I was doing! But once I figured things out on my own and started being consistent and going live, people started loving on me and my content because I was being myself and I was genuine with my approach on TikTok. You can grow your follow base as quickly as you want! Just be you and network around TikTok. I want people to know that are just becoming a content creator on TikTok to just be yourself! Don’t try to copy other people’s content, be genuine, let people know about you and always find out if information is true on your own. Some content creators will tell you the wrong information on TikTok and I want new upcoming content creators to understand that they have to find out the TRUTH about things on their own. Also, if you have specific goals on TikTok (certain goal following, brand deals, campaigns you’re in), stay consistent and you’ll definitely get to where you want to be! I know it’ll be hard at first but I want every content creator to know that they have to keep pushing everyday even the days your content gets only 100 views or your live only has 3 people in it. Consistency is KEY. Being yourself is KEY. Reading what TikTok tells you is KEY. You got this! Just start creating content! Start going live! Start getting into campaigns. Start getting brand collaborations. Start getting into TikTok shop. It’s so many ways to monetize (make money) on TikTok. I want every new creator to know that they can monetize and be successful on TikTok! It’s all about them and their approach! Your community will find you!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I remember posting on TikTok one day when I was at 2,000 followers, that I was getting discouraged because I wanted to get to 10,000 followers so bad! I started getting in my feelings because I felt my content was good and I felt like my lives could be doing better! I had to actually sit back and realize that things aren’t just handed to us in life and that I truly wanted to be a content creator (my mind was made up at this point) so I had to stop getting discouraged and keep going! Even when I did get discouraged that didn’t stop me from opening up TikTok ever and making content and going live regardless especially while being a wife and mom! It’s hard being a wife, mom, and wanting to me a content creator! I have to set time when I can make content and sometimes you hear kids in the background of the content but that’s completely okay! When I’m on live, I have to step away from my live sometimes to handle the family and my community completely understands and wait on me to come back! Being a mom and content creator is challenging but when your 7 year old ask you “Mom, do you have a battle tonight?” Or “Mom, did your live go good?”, it lets me know that they see my dedication and they support me and I’m not doing this for nothing and that’s it’s truly passing off! I didn’t start monetizing right away but if I knew then what I knew now I definitely would’ve been already. No matter how hard this content journey may be, do not give up! We all have a community for us and us moms will always be a community and I’ll always help as best I can with my mom creators because we truly are strong women! So. I encourage anybody that says they want to be a content creator to know, yes, it may be hard at first and it may get discouraging, but definitely keep going because it’s going to pay off! I was determined! I went from 2,000 followers to 10.000 in 5 months. Now I’m almost at 12,000 and I’m truly proud of myself and glad that I didn’t give up! This isn’t even the end, it’s only the beginning!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@deonshae25?_t=ZP-8yI7i2uA6lr&_r=1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/married_womannn?igsh=N3gzZ2RocW1zaHdp&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://linktr.ee/deonnewson?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=4ed9d4a4-1457-4bb4-829d-f025fc5f720e
